Friday, June 8, 2012

The last part of the review on BB Senshi Sangokuden Kibutei Sousou Gundam, Joko Serpent and Sohi Gundam Box Set will focus on the "coronation" of Sousou Gundam as the emperor of Giga. ^^

In the Gunpla comic series, Sousou Gundam reappeared before Sohi Gundam as a hooded intruder when Joko Serpent was ordered to be executed by the king's chief adviser, Shiba-I Sazabi. Sousou Gundam engaged in a sword fight with his son who blamed his father for neglecting him during his days of conquest. An enraged Sousou Gundam defeated his son very easily and reclaimed a few items from him and Joko Serpent which are symbols of Giga's emperor. Just like how he had to defeat Enshou Bawoo to forge his own kingdom, Sousou Gundam had to fight his way to the throne after reappearing from the Battle of the Red Cliff.

The emperor form upgrade is a lot peaceful with the actual Gunpla of course. XD Simple part swapping and rearrangement is all there is to the entire configuration. ^^

From Joko Serpent: the special winged backpack 鳳熾翼 must be detached and dismantled.

From Sohi Gundam: his headpiece, eagle head chest piece and the two swords, Itenken (威天剣 - gold) and Seihouken (星凰剣 - blue) must be detached.

From Sousou Gundam: his V-Fin, cape pieces and Enkotsujin (炎骨刃) must be detached.Kibutei Sousou Gundam no longer uses his old sword so it can be passed on to his son. ^^

Sousou Gundam's V-Fin can be given to Sohi Gundam as well.This is actually the prince's box art image. ^^

The eagle head chest piece is tabbed into a dedicated slot on Sohi Gundam's headpiece to form an even more extravagant crown. ^^

The eagle motif of Giga cannot be any more clearer with Sousou Gundam's new crown. ^^

Itenken and Seihouken are combined to form Houou Shichiseizou (鳳凰七星槍).With Sohi Gundam's shield pieces, the combo is called Kouten Shichiseigeki (光天七星戟); without them, it's Sousou Gundam's new sword. ^^

The special flame effect parts for Houou Shichiseizou.

Two very lightweight plastic pieces with very nicely printed flame patterns.

The effect part pieces are slide onto the blades of the two swords.Positioning of the different parts on both faces of the blade helps to keep the pieces in place.

Kibutei Sousou Gundam is done. ^^

Design-wise, Sousou Gundam in emperor form looks really good. ^^ The added new parts put more spiky edges and feather-like patterns on various parts of the body, giving Sousou Gundam a really exaggerated and fearsome image. ^^ The flame effect parts and shiny stickers on the cape pieces which are unique to this box set are consistent with Sousou Gundam's fiery red color scheme for the main body and head, as well as the overall glossy molded color. Everything fits nicely to really show off the character as the emperor of Giga in that sense. ^^

However, the actual Gunpla execution is a little bit problematic unfortunately. ^^; There're just too many parts on Sousou Gundam that rendered him almost immobile in emperor form. ^^ The cape pieces which have more configuration and positioning possibilities on Sousou Gundam himself have lost that flexibility as they are now fixed on 鳳熾翼; ^^; Just move the arm backward a little bit, the rear end of Houou Shichiseizou would probably hit the wings and caused the sword's effect parts to fall out; ^^; when the sword is moved closer to the body so that more of the effect part can be seen, it might hit the frontal shoulder armor piece and fall out again; ^^;

Even just standing on the surface is pretty difficult for Kibutei Sousou Gundam. ^^; One of the sword's effect parts will always hit the surface and fall out. The only really workable way to pose it is to have the Gundam holding it like a balancing pole right in front of the body, as shown in the set of images above. It's the box art pose as well, which doesn't look as good in person as compared to the illustrated box art version. ^^;

A gathering of all three characters from this box set, with Sousou Gundam in Kibutei configuration this time. ^^

Three BB Senshi kits on the surface is a bit too crowded for the camera. ^^; Kibutei Sousou Gundam on Soul Stage Act 3 Action Support Clear Type frees up a lot of space for everyone, and for the sword's effect parts too. ^^

Sohi Gundam can obviously use one of the effect parts for his sword 黑翼刀. ^^

Overall, this is a really BB Senshi Sangokuden box set. ^^ It's definitely great for people who didn't get the individual kits (like me ^^;), because not only are the three characters included, there are extra goodies for Sousou Gundam's emperor form as well. ^^ Even though I did mention that the configuration doesn't seem to work that well, the visual display is fabulous. ^^ The original details plus glossy molded color and extra paint work make the three kits look really good. I would have said that three times for all individual kits (or maybe I did in previous parts of the review ^^), but it's a fair conclusive remark for the entire set anyway. ^^

For a 1,800-Yen (exclusive of tax) kit, this really is quite a bargain in my opinion. ^^